Societies to Meet at NAPEX 2009

THREE SOCIETIES TO HOLD ANNUAL MEETINGS AT NAPEX 2009
Ottoman & Near East, India Study Circle, Meter Stamp Society Convene
At Washington-Area Show

Three national stamp societies - the Ottoman and Near East Philatelic
Society, The India Study Circle for Philately, and The Meter Stamp
Society - will hold their annual meetings during NAPEX 2009, the
Washington, D.C.-area stamp show, June 5-7, 2009, in McLean, Va.

NAPEX is a World Series of Philately show, one of about 30 "national"
shows, and features not only a competitive exhibition of multi-frame
stamp and cover exhibits, but also single-frame and literature
competitions. In addition, NAPEX 2009 also will offer the first NAPEX
single-frame "Alphabet Challenge," in which all the subjects of all
exhibits must start with the letter "L."

The Ottoman and Near East Philatelic Society promotes the collecting
and study of the postage stamps, revenue stamps, postal stationery,
and postal history used in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, and successor
states. It will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. during NAPEX. Its Web site is at
www.oneps.org.

The Meter Stamp Society, an APS affiliate, is dedicated to the
collection of postage meter stamps, topical slogans on postage meter
stamps, computer postage (CVP), framas, photostamps and similar items.
More information about the MSS is available at
www.meterstampsociety.com/

Members of the India Study Circle for Philately collect Indian stamps,
Postal Stationery, Indian States stamps, Revenue stamps and all areas
of Indian philately. Its Web site can be found at
www.indiastudycircle.org.

Other groups meeting at NAPEX this year include local chapters of the
Universal Ship Cancellation Society, the American Topical Association,
American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors, the American First Day
Cover Society, the Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections
(ESPER), the International Philippine Philatelic Society, Society of
Indo-China Philatelists, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, the
Virigina Postal History Society, the Virginia Philatelic Federation,
the Virtual Stamp Club, the Souvenir Card Collector's Society, and
Women Exhibitors.

The three-day NAPEX 2009 will also include more than 70 dealers, the
U.S. and United Nations postal administrations and Nordica, which
represents several Scandinavian countries, a first day cover
cachetmakers bourse, and the first day ceremony for a new 44-cent U.S.
flag stamp. There is a special hotel rate at the Hilton of $125 a
night for NAPEX visitors.

For more information on NAPEX, visit www.napex.org or contact show
chairman Darrell Ertzberger at .

"Lloyd de Vries"
The Meter Stamp Society, an APS affiliate, is dedicated to the
collection of postage meter stamps, topical slogans on postage meter
stamps, computer postage (CVP), framas, photostamps and similar items.
More information about the MSS is available at
www.meterstampsociety.com/

Interesting to see the mind boggling array of "fringe collecting" topics.

We in Australia have another sub heading, a non-meter, but a "CSC" label
"Combined Scale and Calculator" label

from 1991 attractive Australian themes, to the contemporary bland label in
2008
http://cjoint.com/data/dodegwM6xO.htm



Collecting is Fun

All types of collecting can be fun, as I recently discovered by giving a
talk on "Collectables" to a "USA" group. USA is a voluntary body providing
lectures on a variety of subjects to retirees over 55. Yes, time is moving
on and I now find that I am in that age group. However in preparing for the
talk, I found that most people with whom I spoke collected something.

Matchbox cars have a specialists catalogue and a formal club group. I was
surprised at some of the prices those little cars were realising. Of course
condition varied the price similar to the condition of stamps. Books, beer
bottle labels you name it and its collected, even used "scratchy" lottery
tickets.

Another area, which in time to come may be of interest to stamp collectors,
may be Combined Scale/Calculator labels. While they were rather drab in
their infancy, times seem to be changing. The different types of labels were
mentioned in an article in the April 1991 issue, (a detailed listing is also
presented in the Australian Commonwealth Specialists Bulletin) since then I
have received an example of a further type of CSC label. This label has an
outline of a Koala on the upper left side and a Kangaroo on the upper right,
with the word "Australia" between, and the value below. The D type label
format follows below with the postcode shown on the left hand side followed
by the sub postcode number, the machine number, the progressive label number
and a set of [ ] brackets. The date, time of the transaction and weight are
shown in the line below.

Bernie Doherty 1991